Academic Regulations

Standard Course Load

The standard course load at Bright College consists of the following:

• 12 credit hours in the fall and spring semesters of the first and second year.
• 3 credit hours in the January term of the first and second year.
• 6 credit hours in the summer between the first and second year.

Additional Credits

In their first semester, Bright College students may enroll in one additional credit of undergraduate coursework at Drake, including university ensembles, and may audition for theatre productions.

Beginning in their second semester, Bright College students are eligible to enroll in up to four additional credits of undergraduate coursework at Drake. Bright College student registration will follow general undergraduate registration.

Repeated coursework (see below) will count against the allowable overload after the first semester and will require the payment of an administrative fee.

Transfer Students

The articulation of transfer credits will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Ordinarily, college credits earned at a fully accredited college or university in the United States can be applied to ongoing education at Drake following the completion of the Associate’s Degree, but not to the completion of the Associate’s Degree itself.

Depending on their prior coursework, however, students may be able to transfer twelve credits toward the first semester’s required coursework in Bright College in order to start in January or spring, rather than August, of the first year.

To do so, those credits must comprise the topic areas of the first-semester seminar components:

• Written Communication
• Contemporary US History
• Race, ethnicity, identity, and/or immigration in the United States.

In extraordinary circumstances, the dean, in consultation with the registrar’s office and faculty, may authorize exceptions to the transfer-credit area-of-study requirements above.

Students who transfer into the spring semester, rather than the first January term, will be required to take JBC 025 in the second January and pay the appropriate overload tuition and fees.

Part-Time Students

With the exception of students repeating a course or seminar component after all other degree requirements have been met, all students attending Bright College enroll on a full-time basis.

Grade Appeals Policy for John Dee Bright College Courses

A student who wishes to challenge the grading practices of an instructor for a course that is an John Dee Bright College may appeal for a change of their final grade, using the following guidelines and procedures.

Reason for Appeal

Students may appeal a final grade for one or more of the following reasons:

1. Procedural or clerical error by the instructor that had a negative impact on the student’s grade.
2. The grading being arbitrary, capricious or outside accepted norms with resultant negative impact on the student’s grade. Possible examples: work is graded differently than stated in the rubric; final grades are calculated with a different method than stated on the syllabus, etc.
3. The evaluation was of a different standard than that required of other students in the class, resulting in a negative impact on the student’s grade. Possible examples: some students were permitted to submit late work without penalty and others were not; extra credit opportunities were provided to some, but not all students, etc.

If the student believes that the grade received is based upon discrimination, harassment, or related retaliation, as defined and prohibited by Drake policy, the student should initiate the complaint process set forth in the related policy: Non-Discrimination and Discriminatory Harassment Policy (Non-Sex-Based), or Sexual Harassment Policy.

To be clear, students may not appeal the final grade on the grounds that they disagree with the professional judgment of the instructor as to the quality of the students’ performance or work or whether they met course standards.

Students must provide sufficient evidence to support how their appeal meets one or more of the grounds for appeal, and the inability to provide this evidence may result in dismissal of the appeal.

Timeline for Appeal

The student must initiate the appeals procedure with the instructor within ten (10) business days of the final grade submission due date as published by the Registrar. The appeal process is initiated by a student first seeking a resolution with the instructor.

We expect that most, if not all, appeals will be resolved between the student and their instructor. If the student and instructor reach an agreement at any step of the appeals process, the appeal has concluded and the grade may not be appealed again. If the student and instructor do not reach an agreement, the student may escalate the appeal by requesting a meeting at which the Dean, the instructor, and the student are present.

The student must make this request to the Dean within five days of the meeting they had with the instructor. At this meeting, the student will have the opportunity to explain their position and present relevant documentation that person. The Dean shall prepare a written summary of the issues and their findings of fact and shall determine the final resolution of the appeal based on the criteria listed above. The Dean will provide all parties with a final determination within 3 days of the meeting.